Quick Tips for Street Photography with Lomo LC-A+

Never taken your Lomo LC-A+ out for some serious street photography work? Arm yourself with these quick tips and be on your way to mastering the art of shooting away out in the streets!

If you think you’ve mastered your Lomo LC-A+ to start seriously pursuing a certain style, technique, or genre with it, maybe it’s about time for you to practice street photography with it. By now, you already know and love the LC-A+ for being an amazing handy partner for a many shooting conditions, making it perfect for prowling the streets and quickly taking candid photos with it.

So, pack your films, make sure your Lomo LC-A+ is not low on power (and change batteries if you must — this is important!), and arm yourself with these quick and simple tips to help you get started!

It pays to plan your photowalk ahead and think of the lighting conditions you’ll most likely be shooting with, so you know which films to use. It’s always a good choice to use black and white film, whether in 100 ISO or 400 ISO, for tasteful street photography. Just make sure you use slower films when shooting in bright daylight, then switch to faster films later in the day to ensure properly exposed photos. Shooting at a busy district at night? ISO 400 films, like the Fuji Neopan 400 I used in the photos above will do, especially in well-lit places like restaurants, but opt for at least 800 ISO if you want to effectively freeze movement or will most likely be shooting in mostly dim streets.

Remember, you can also overexpose or underexpose your film when necessary by selecting a lower or higher ISO setting on your LC-A+. Just check how many stops your chosen film/s can handle!

You’ll be relying on zone focusing on the fly, so if you think you’ll need to get more adept with it, go ahead and do some practice, and even take the time to pore over helpful readings about it (like this zone focusing guide for candid street photography specifically).

It is precisely for this purpose that you need to master zone focusing. Street scenes happen very spontaneously and will often demand you to be quick enough to: 1. whip out your camera; 2. set the right distance; 3. point and compose your frame (with or without looking through the viewfinder); and finally, 4. press the shutter at the right moment.

They would have been nice if I didn’t accidentally flick the damn switch.

4. Be mindful of the focus switch.

Street photography with the Lomo LC-A+, as with many other cameras, has its own share of challenges. One of my greatest frustrations with shooting street with this camera is ending up with unfocused shots because I accidentally flicked the focus switch while trying my best to be fast. So, I say, make sure you don’t do the same mistake!

I had to resort to shooting from my hip while seated in the train and bus, slightly tilting my camera upward, so my subjects won’t notice me taking photos of them. I think it’s actually a hit and miss thing.

5. Try shooting from the hip.

Finally, if you’re not yet confident about openly and quickly bringing your camera up to your eye level without disturbing your subjects, you can always be a bit sneaky and try shooting from the hip. This requires practice though, and has some downside (Garry Winogrand said it will make you lose control over your framing), but I think it’s something you can always try and experiment with to see if it works for you.

So, there you have it! I hope you find these simple tips helpful and hopefully get you started with street photography using the Lomo LC-A+! If you happen to have some tips of your own, please do share it with all of us here and leave a comment below!

3 Comments

I much prefer my LC-A for street snaps because it tells me the focus setting in the viewfinder. I really can't understand why they got rid of it in the LC-A+ (more like LC-A-) lol jk
Currently got some BW film in the LC-A for some street stuff so I will bare all of this in mind for the rest of the shots :)

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